Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $250
- Availability: Nationwide, business checking customers not eligible
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknow
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: October 31, 2023
Contents
The Offer
- American Express is offering a $250 bonus when you open a new personal checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Receive a qualifying direct deposit of $500 or more by December 10
The Fine Print
- Earn a Welcome Bonus of $250 deposited into a new American Express Rewards Checking account after you do each of the following:
- Open an American Express Rewards Checking Account in your name by October 31, 2023.
- Have a Qualifying Direct Deposit posted to your American Express Rewards Checking Account by December 10, 2023.
- Applying for an American Express Rewards Checking account can be completed in minutes. We are currently accepting applications from Card Members with a U.S. Basic Consumer Card issued by American Express National Bank with 3+ months tenure. Current and prior American Express Business Checking customers are not eligible to apply at this time.
- After you have completed the above, American Express will deposit your Welcome Bonus into your Rewards Check Account within 8-12 weeks.
- A Qualifying Direct Deposit is a single ACH transfer of $500 or more from an employer or the government for a paycheck, pension, government benefit (such as Social Security), or tax refund. The following are not Qualifying Direct Deposits: person to person transfers (P2P), demand deposit account to demand deposit account transfers (for example, from a checking account to another checking account), and deposits or ACH transfers not from an employer or the government (for example, online transfers or bank transfers).
- You are not eligible for the Welcome Bonus if you have an existing Rewards Checking Account. Each individual customer may only have one Rewards Checking Account. You must keep your account open and in good standing until we award you your welcome Bonus. If your account is closed for any reason prior to such time, including being closed by us, you will not be eligible for the Welcome Bonus. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated the Rewards Checking Account Terms or have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with your account, we may determine that you are not eligible for the Welcome Bonus. In such circumstance, we may rescind or decline to award you the Welcome Bonus.
- Your Welcome Bonus may be taxable income to you and may be reported on IRS Form 1099. You are responsible for any federal or state taxes resulting from the Welcome Bonus. Please consult your tax advisor if you have questions about the tax treatment of the Welcome Bonus. Your Welcome Bonus may not be transferred, sold, traded, or combined with other Welcome Bonuses. You are only eligible for one Welcome Bonus. Limit one Welcome Bonus per American Express Rewards Checking Account. American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke this Welcome Bonus offer at any time without notice.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has no monthly fees
Early Account Termination Fee
Unsure if there is any EATF
Our Verdict
We have never seen a public sign up bonus on this account (there has been many bonuses on the business checking bonuses before) but there was a targeted offer for $200. Some people might prefer to wait for a bigger bonus as we did see them increase with business checking. This deal itself is great though and we will add it to our best bank bonus page. Keep in mind you can’t do this if you’ve done a business checking bonus before.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Apparently now open to current and former business checking customers since these terms have been removed: “Current and prior American Express Business Checking customers are not eligible to apply at this time.”
Now if they would just bring back the bonus…
Thank you for pointing out that old language. I was denied for a bonus because I was a prior personal checking account customer, not a prior business checking account customer.
Their reasoning for denying me was because of the term “You are not eligible for the Welcome Bonus if you have an existing Rewards Checking Account.” It’s interesting that they thought to include the word “prior” regarding business customers but not personal customers.
What’s even more interesting is that the rep that sent me the terms that I signed up with did not include the quote that you provided. Fortunately, I usually take print screens of all offers that I complete so I found the quote that you provided in my print screen.
It looks like I may have found the “smoking gun” to use in my upcoming CFPB complaint.
“You are only eligible for one Welcome Bonus. Limit one Welcome Bonus per American Express Rewards Checking Account.”
Did you receive a welcome bonus for your previous personal checking? If yes, you may be out of luck unless Amex decides to be nice.
The lines that you quoted would only bolster my argument, in my opinion. If you are referring to the 1st part of your quote, I would argue that it’s way too vague.
Per your (apparent) argument, if I get this $250 bonus, I would never be eligible for any other “Welcome Bonus”, including from Amex credit cards. That’s obviously not what they meant.
Fortunately, they clarified in the 2nd sentence that you quoted what they actually meant by that. They made it very clear that we are eligible for 1 “Welcome Bonus” per Amex checking account.
If Amex had been nice, they would have credited me when I 1st raised the issue and they chose not to by using a very flimsy argument, which I laid out above.
I will wait patiently for your next attempt to discredit an argument that I make.
Geez…your attitude…Do me a favor and do not wait.
lmao
I assume the line that you take offense to was one of Eric’s (in)famous attempts at humor and not the smug personal dig that it reads like, but I guess he’ll correct me if I’m wrong, lol
Don’t forget that there’s a grain of truth in every joke.
True, very true…I stand corrected, lol
Do you have an opinion on either argument that I made?
Not really…my only thought is maybe they consider attempted churns to fall under the ‘abuse’ clause, despite the reps not explicitly telling you so. Guess we’ll find out if/when they respond to your complaint.
To be clear, I was not referring to arguments that I’ve had with other people. As you are probably well aware, I’ve had more than 2 arguments on DoC in the past week alone.
I was asking if you had an opinion on the contentions that I made in this specific post regarding my eligibility for the $250 bonus based on the written terms.
Yep…seems like we were typing at the same time again, lol
I guess great minds not only think alike but also at the same time.
Received email offer requiring two $1000+ deposits
3/16: account opened
3/21: Real DD
4/5: Real DD
4/10: $200 bonus posted
How long until you received the bonus email?
DP: Closed via Chat, same day. (No option to SM) Did ask me to reconsider, no fees, etc. Asked basic verification questions, address, DoB, last 4 SSN.
I got a $200 bonus offer via email on 3/21 with the subject: “Hurry [my name], your $200 offer ends on 3/31”. Requires two DD of $500 or more within the first 90 days of opening.
3/21: applied, immediately approved.
3/27: $510 push from Fidelity CMA – coded as Online Transfer / Payment: Credit
From Account: FID BKG SVC LLC
4/1: $502 push from Fidelity CMA – coded as Online Transfer / Payment: Credit From Account: FID BKG SVC LLC
No bonus or email posted yet. Fine print in original email says:
Earn a Welcome Bonus of $200 after you do each of the following:
• Open an American Express® Rewards Checking Account in your name by 3/31/2024 and
• Receive two separate Qualifying Direct Deposits of $500 or more each posted to that American Express® Rewards Checking Account within the first 90 days of account opening.
After you have completed the above, American Express will deposit your Welcome Bonus into your new Rewards Checking Account within 8-12 weeks.
So, may be looking at a posting around end of May/June. Bummer after seeing quick emails + posting in the previous iteration of this bonus
Let me know if you get the email – I’m about a week or two after your data points also using Fidelity CMA.
I’ll be curious to see any updates, too.
I opened my account on 3/28, pushed $1000 via an Apple Cash deposit on 4/1 (was having trouble linking Schwab brokerage for the first couple of days).
I then pushed $1002 and $1003 from Schwab brokerage on 4/11 and 4/12, respectively, but haven’t gotten any emails yet.
I really don’t want to have to change my work payroll over, but I also wonder if Amex closed the “loophole” with Schwab/Fidelity/etc. this go-around?
Let me know if/when you get the email or find anything out. I’m still waiting as of now.
I went ahead and switched my work payroll over. It shouldn’t actually be for about another few weeks, and then I’ll have to wait for the next. The way others were getting it within days of fulfilling the requirements has me thinking they’re looking at it a bit more closely.
If I get anything before that, I’ll know the Schwab pushes worked. Either way, I’ll report back!
Any update?
Still nothing yet for those brokerage pushes… 1st payroll DD will be this week, so once the 2nd one goes through in mid-May, I’m hoping I’ll get an email.
It seems Amex does label the incoming deposits “Schwab Brokerage” so they could fairly easily start filtering out non-payroll, non-government direct deposits. It seems that the prior promotion resulted in fairly quick responses when people sent $ from Fidelity, Schwab, etc.—the delay this time has me wondering if they’ve gotten wise.
New bonus requires two deposits of $1000 or more.
4/3 – $1001 push from Fidelity CMA – coded as “FID BKG SVC LLC” (“Online Transfer / Payment: Credit”)
4/5 – $1001 push from Fidelity CMA – coded as “FID BKG SVC LLC” (“Online Transfer / Payment: Credit”)
4/11 – Still no bonus email received – any thoughts?
Do I need to keep the cash in the account until the bonus is sent or can I withdraw once I get the bonus email?
You can move it, but never zero balance an account where you are waiting on a bonus.
Thanks!
3/11 Fidelity CMA push to ally
3/18 Schwab brokerage $500 push to ally
3/30 still no bonus
Think it’ll happen in the first 30 days? Both coded as deposit
Was this offer active in March?
Probably it’s the targeted $200 offer
Why’d money pushed to Ally trigger the Amex bonus?
I tried to fund my Amex checking account using my Discover checking account on 3/27/24. It did not go through as an ACH.
FYI, can close this account via online chat. Took all of about 2-3 minutes no questions asked.
Too bad there’s no mention of early termination fee, just to be safe I guess we will have to wait at least the standard 6 months.
I just got an email for a $200 checking offer, so looks like this offer might be back for a limited time. Can anyone confirm if bank pushes still work to trigger this?
Came to say/ask the same!
Yea, the offer is valid till 3/31/2024 with a $1000 deposit.
Can i get the sign up link?